Oilfield Service News April 27, 2016

MNP-Body

Why Canada’s Oil Industry May Never Be the Same

Never is a long time. The dictionary definition is, “at no time in the past or future; on no occasion; not ever.” In the volatile oil and gas industry, those who try to look that far into the future and predict anything with certainty are invariably wrong. Here’s hoping.

But it’s not all bad. Oil prices are gradually rising because of market physics and investor sentiment. Federal and provincial politicians are softening their opposition to, and have even publicly declared support for, pipelines to tidewater. The worst is over.

However, it is increasingly certain the future will not be like the past. Previous downturns have been equally devastating but the primary causes eventually reversed themselves; low commodity prices recovered and damaging government policies were rescinded.
This recovery will be different for a variety of reasons which will combine to cap growth, opportunity and profits, even if oil and gas prices spike. The following major changes appear permanent.

Oil Is Destroying the World

“New research shows that the fossil-fuel era could be over in as little as 10 years, if governments commit to the right policy measures… If you think workers are suffering in Alberta now, wait until you see what Canada’s economy looks like if we miss the huge opportunities for jobs and prosperity offered in renewable energy and a truly climate-friendly economy.”

Written by a climate and energy campaigner for the Sierra Club, this appeared on top of page 13 in the April 23 edition of Victoria’s Times Columnist, under the headline, “Pipelines not the pathway to Paris solutions.” B.C.’s views on pipelines are well known.

Whether you or the tens of thousands of laid-off oil workers believe the first paragraph or not, on April 22 at the United Nations in New York, 171 countries signed the Paris climate change agreement negotiated last year. At the event, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "Paris will shape the lives of all future generations in a profound way - it is their future that is at stake.” He said the planet was experiencing record temperatures: "We are in a race against time. I urge all countries to join the agreement at the national level. Today we are signing a new covenant for the future."

Showing support, in the Globe and Mail April 26, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the island country of Maldives wrote, “Our ratification (of the Paris agreement) is based on the clear and present danger of losing our country completely to rising tides. How critical this has become can be seen in a report released only this month that questioned the stability of our polar ice sheets. We now know March, 2016 was the hottest month in recorded history.”

This is all caused by burning carbon fuel. True or not, this debate will not die anytime soon.

The anti-carbon movement is already affecting the oil industry in ways nobody would have imagined two years ago. Alberta’s comprehensive carbon tax regime will become law January 1, 2017 apparently to prove the province deserves a social license to stay in the oil business from carbon fuel opponents. The recent Canada / U.S. commitment to reduce methane emissions will come at an enormous cost to the oilpatch if implementation is not preceded by significant study and comprehensive cost / benefit analysis.

These are just part of a growing trend to dismiss and / or deny the essential role hydrocarbon fuel plays in powering the world’s economy. Oil doesn’t matter any longer. University endowment funds have been pressured for years to divest shares in oil and gas companies. The Royal Bank of Scotland now refuses to provide funding for oilsands development. Historically, people sought jobs in the oilpatch and were proud of their work. This is changing fast.

Canada is one of the few major oil and gas-producing jurisdictions determined to push rapidly forward with major and expensive anti-carbon policy changes despite being only a nominal contributor to global emissions. We won’t be followed anytime soon by Russia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Venezuela, Nigeria and so on. They will be happy to supply Canada with oil, whether Canadian supplies continue or not.

“Quantitative Easing” No Longer Stimulating Economy

Following the 2008 / 2009 recession the world’s central bankers embarked on a program of near-zero interest rates that would be expanded into something called “quantitative easing.” Investopedia’s definition is, “Quantitative easing is an unconventional monetary policy in which a central bank purchases government securities or other securities from the market in order to lower interest rates and increase the money supply.” This has now been expanded in some countries to include experimental negative interest rates where banks and, ultimately, savers are penalized for holding cash and not spending their money.

The purpose has been to juice spending to keep the western economic miracle alive while government debt balloons and the economy stagnates. If interest rates ever approached the double digit levels of 30 years ago, the economic devastation would be staggering. Prime lending and mortgage rates peaked at 22.5% in the early 1980s, long before it was believed (then accepted) governments could print money without collapsing the economy or creating runaway inflation.

But it isn’t working anymore. Past recessions were caused by high oil prices and cured when they fell. Not this time. An article in Oilprice.com on April 19 by Gail Tverberg read, “…consumers are the foundation of the economy. If their wages are not rising rapidly, and their buying power (considering both debt and wages) is not rising very much, they are not going to be buying many new houses and cars – the big products that require oil consumption. In fact, in order to bring oil demand back up to a level that commands a price over $100 per barrel, we need consumers who can afford to buy a growing quantity of good made with oil products.”

Oops. This time oil prices collapsed and so did demand. The International Energy Agency is forecasting, despite low prices, demand growth of only 1.2 million barrels (b/d) per day this year compared to 1.6 million b/d or higher in 2015 and prior years. Middle class incomes, the main driver of growing oil consumption in the past, are no longer rising in the western world. Quantitative easing has run its course. What growth in oil demand may occur will be in Asia and other foreign markets. Should governments reverse policies on near-zero or sub-zero interest rates or people lose confidence in the long-term stability of central banks printing money as required, oil consumption and prices are doomed.

The U.S. Shale Boom Was Financed By Low Interest Rates

The hunt for yield in the era of lower to zero interest rates leads to peculiar investment decisions. In 2008 the collapse of the housing bubble – driven by an endless investor appetite for high-yield mortgage bonds of questionable quality – was said to cause the global recession. This precipitated the collapse of major financial institutions like Lehman Brothers and the bailout of many more. Regulators frowned and tried to bring in policies to ensure it would not happen again.

The great light tight oil (LTO) or shale boom in the U.S. since 2010 has all the hallmarks of a similar asset bubble. Exploration and production (E&P) companies were able to finance significant drilling through the sale of subordinated bonds with an attractive yield of 6% or more. They were for the most part interest-only and due in several years. The problem with drilling high decline LTO wells with high yield debt is by the time the bonds mature, the production from the wells the debt paid for has declined to the point the assets are only worth a fraction of the leverage outstanding. Many companies in the U.S. are already broke and more will follow. Much analysis has been done to show some of the top LTO drillers in the U.S. spent $2 on drilling for every $1 of cash flow prior investments had generated. The difference was made up by seemingly limitless capital inflows.

This has created two problems for Canada’s oil future. The first is even if commodity prices rise and transportation issues are solved, the ability of companies to raise cheap debt will be impaired for some time, perhaps forever, depending on what happens to interest rates. Historical E&P spending has almost always exceeded cash flow providing investment, jobs and opportunity that would not exist otherwise. External capital inflows are essential to feed the machine.

The other is the impact debt financing has had on oilfield services (OFS) sector balance sheets. As has been written on these pages before, in 2014 and 2015 alone 21 diversified Canadian OFS operators invested $37 billion adding new rigs, frack spreads, camps, processing plants, midstream facilities and pipelines for a growing North American oilpatch. Three large Canadian pressure pumpers alone carried a combined $2.6 billion in debt and one has gone broke. A lot of E&P demand was financed by debt, which is no longer available. Now OFS is overbuilt and many operators over-levered. It will take some recovery to clean this up.

Middle East Production About Volume, Not Price

Why Middle East producers do what they do remains a mystery. But whatever the plan or strategy, the cash cost of finding and producing the next barrel in this region remains the lowest in the world. In the past it seemed Middle East oil strategy was about price with oil sales assured. Now it looks like volume and market share.

The Middle East may soon be the world’s most active market for drilling rigs. According to the Baker Hughes worldwide rig count, the only area of the world (Latin America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia Pacific, U.S., Canada) still operating about the same number of rigs in 2016 as it was in 2014 is the Middle East. The only region that has increased its active rig count from 2013 and 2012 and its share of the global active drilling rigs is the Middle East.

Source: Baker Hughes Worldwide Rig Count April 22, 2016, average rigs operating for the period

Why? Because they can and to sustain output they must. Whatever the financial situation may be for the governments in charge, there is clearly sufficient cash flow from existing production to fund more drilling. With the Baker Hughes U.S. total active rig count for April 22 down to 471, the average 403 rigs drilling in the Middle East in the first three months of 2016 make it the second-busiest region in the world. Unless prices recover soon, it could become number one.

This is not a price war Canada can win. One of the attractions of Canada in recent years is foreign capital was welcome to develop massive, if expensive, oil reserves. Now Iran is said to be open for business. As is Mexico. Saudi Arabia wants to diversify its economy away from oil and sell its refining operations to global investors. The Saudis are talking bravely about an economy no longer dependent upon oil profits as soon as 2030.

Western Canada is not the only oil-producing jurisdiction wondering about its future. It is, however, the highest cost oil-producing jurisdiction wondering about its future.

Canada Down But Not Out

Canada produces 7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day of bitumen, crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas, making it the fifth largest hydrocarbon-producing jurisdiction in the world. The country won’t be going off the oil and gas business anytime soon, so keeping it going will remain good business and the largest resource industry in Canada.

But the current mantra of “lower for longer” is wrong. This is only the price of oil. In terms of the Canadian oil and gas industry there are multiple reasons it could be “lower for a long time, possibly forever.” As a country that performs all elements of producing still-essential hydrocarbons as well or better than anyone else in the world – everything from broad economic participation to worker safety to environmental protection - that is a tragedy.

Huge Equipment Auction In Nisku Will Help OFS Value Assets

It was billed by the sponsor – Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers – as the largest sale of Canadian industrial equipment ever. Running in Nisku from April 26 to April 30, the auction featured over 10,000 individual items ranging from bits and piece of this and that, to trucks, “yellow iron,” and specialized oilfield service gear such as pressure pumping and wireline units.

What did the equipment fetch? It really depends upon how many markets the assets can be used in. Construction equipment and ordinary heavy-duty trucks for the most part hold their value because they can be used in many other industries. OFS operators who have taken their multiple-market assets to auction in the past year have done alright. The low Canadian dollar has attracted buyers from the U.S., a massive market compared to Canada.

However, the more specialized the assets – defined as applicable only to oil and gas operations – the greater the spread between auction value and original fabrication or replacement cost. Ultimately, the value of OFS assets is linked to how much revenue and cash flow the assets will generate when working. One example is big, off-highway, multi-wheel rig moving trucks which have few if any other markets. The well servicing equipment such as nitrogen units, pressure pumpers or wireline units at auction are probably most valuable for parts. The auction featured a myriad of drilling mud and drill cutting tanks. Depending on their design and applicability to the current market, this type of equipment could sell by the pound.

There were about 150 2008 DRAGON 500 Barrel S/A Frac Tank listed for sale from what was likely a rental company based in Williston, North Dakota. Since they are eight years old, one can only speculate whether these assets are obsolete, a casualty of insolvency, or both. These tanks were just what the market needed in the early days of the North Dakota Bakken LTO boom and may have made somebody a bunch of money. They are likely only worth pennies on the dollar in the current market.

What specialized oilfield equipment is worth these days is very important as lenders question the value of the security behind poorly-performing or offside loans. Take Precision Drilling Corporation, for example. In its March 31, 2016 financial disclosure, it reported $3.67 billion worth of property, plant and equipment on the asset side of its balance sheet and $2.04 billion in debt under liabilities. If all Precision’s assets were at the Ritchie Brothers auction, it would be interesting to see if the lenders recovered 100% of their funds. Likely not.

This big auction will set a benchmark for OFS asset values in the current market. As banks request more companies to conduct appraisals, the appraisers will search for recent transactions for similar assets. Every transaction at Ritchie Brothers will be dutifully recorded on its website for the world to see.

To this point, the preferred position for the value of OFS assets is “you don’t want to find out.” Ideally, if a company has sufficient financial flexibility and / or liquidity, this doesn’t become an issue. When it does, one can only hope the cash value of OFS assets at auction will be learned at some future date when the assets will be worth much more because of their ability to generate revenue and income.

ATB Says Some OFS Operators Won’t Survive Slow Summer

Everybody knows it but nobody wants to say it. So the short straw was drawn by ATB Financial’s VP of strategic initiatives Bruce Edgelow in a speech to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Landman reported by the Daily Oil Bulletin April 21. Saying “Certain service companies will not survive through the summer,” Edgelow painted a grim but realistic picture of the state of OFS in the second and third quarters of 2016.

Because of low commodity prices, E&P cash flow from production is greatly reduced, causing capital expenditures (CAPEX) to keep “…falling like a stone…The value destruction is horrific – 42 rigs running in Canada, six per cent utilization, the lowest rig count since 1999.” With operators demanding and receiving price reductions of 20% to 30%, profits have been all but eliminated for many OFS operators. He called the price reductions unsustainable.

Putting on his banker’s hat, Edgelow said what needs saying but rarely makes the news: “Companies and capital providers can only wait out the downturn for so long,” explaining why more companies are being put into receivership by their lenders. They have run out of cash, can’t borrow anymore and sometimes can’t make payroll.

Edgelow said putting a company into receivership is the last thing any lender wants to do. But with the bank’s collateral base eroding and no material improvement in activity on the horizon, lenders have no choice as they have shareholders to protect as well. He also cautioned borrowers to have a better plan that waiting for the price of oil to rise. Edgelow said, “So we’re asking companies, and asking (management) teams, to have a Plan A and a Plan B and a Plan C that are all executable. All have gateposts, all have guideposts, and we can move towards them.”

On the subject of new capital, Edgelow provided some interesting information. ATB estimates there is some $10 billion in Canadian, U.S. private equity and Asian investors. “But on what terms” he asked. “There’s a lot of capital that’s waiting. The challenge is the difference of the bid and the ask, the challenge to get the deals done.”

There are also the changing investment patterns in North America pressuring the industry. Edgelow presented data showing Canada attracted 37% of the capital in 1990 but only 17% today. Royal Dutch Shell plc’s decision to mothball the Carmon Creek oilsands development is the most striking example of money that was once destined for Canada but is now going elsewhere. ATB figures that as a result of the oil price collapse, more projects have been collapsed or reduced in Canada than anywhere else in the world.

Selected North American Drilling Activity

The active rig count in the three markets selected for analysis continues to decline to the lowest levels in years. There is no indication this will improve in the U.S. unless commodity prices rise significantly. In Canada, drillers can expect some uptick in activity after road bans are removed in May or June, regardless of commodity prices.

Canadian Active Rig Count

U.S. Active Rig Count Drilling for Oil

Source: Baker-Hughes Rotary Rig Count April 22, 2016

North Dakota Drilling Activity

This will be my last column for MNP. I am moving on to other opportunities in the oilfield service industry, probably as a player instead of a coach. My 3.5 years at MNP have been great and the firm has made significant investments in training, processes and systems to be the best-in-class provider of accounting, tax and consulting services to this key component of the Canadian economy. Please consider MNP as your trusted financial services supplier.